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New Carlise to ring in New Year with ball drop

Hundreds of friends and families have attended New Carlisle’s New Years Eve celebration. MARSHALL GORBY / STAFF

Posted: 10:47 a.m. Tuesday, December 27, 2016

On New Year’s Eve, New Carlisle will become Clark County’s very own Times Square as residents party in the streets waiting for the ball drop at midnight.

Finding the event is not difficult. Just look for the giant glowing ball suspended over the town by a crane. You can see it from miles away. Really you can.

“It’s gonna look like a moon over the town,” said Mayor Mike Lowrey, who helped construct the ball a few years ago and is chairman of the event this year.

Until midnight, the brightly illuminated 7½ foot diameter aluminum ball will be suspended over the corner of Main and Washington Streets in New Carlisle. The ball is 24 feet in circumference and too big to be stored in a regular garage because it won’t fit through the garage door.

Festivities will begin at 9 p.m. and Main Street will be closed to traffic at 8:30 p.m. Lowrey said the detour around the festival will be simple and well-marked. There is also plenty of parking.

Last time we attended there was security to make sure no one got too rowdy. The event was family oriented. Alcohol consumption was discouraged. Many offices and shops on Main Street were open so folks could come in and warm up.

Lowrey and his committee have been busy this year preparing. There was a dated Christmas ornament fundraiser and donations have been received so that admission and entertainment will be free.

Visitors just need to dress warmly with comfortable boots, heavy coats, hats and gloves. They will need to bring some extra money if they want to purchase food from the vendors.

There are lots of things for the crowd to do as they await 2017. This year free carriage rides have been added to the festivities. Karen’s Carriages from Cincinnati will be there all evening and will provide heated blankets to make the ride even more pleasant.

The popular ice sculptures will return as well as the cake auction. Cakes this year will be provided by the owner of Suzy Q’s Cakes, Suzy Gorby. Heritage of Flight will run the 50/50 drawing as a fundraiser. For the second year Cold Hard Cash give-a-ways will be announced from the stage. These are chunks of ice with bills from $1 to $10 frozen in them.

DJ music will fill the streets and food vendors will tempt revelers to have one more bite of sweets before the diets begin. According to Lowrey, the hot chocolate is very popular.

Just before midnight the countdown will begin and the brightly lit ball will drop to illuminate the numbers 2017. It will be almost like Times Square.

Almost.

Happy 2017.

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